


Discussions of Magic

by ReleasingmyInsanity



Category: Sesame Street (TV)
Genre: Asking Questions is A Good Way of Finding Out Things, Canon Character of Color, Friendship, Gen, Magic, POV Character of Color, Questions, Talking, they're good friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 08:49:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16594709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReleasingmyInsanity/pseuds/ReleasingmyInsanity
Summary: The Amazing Mumford has a question about how different people use magic. Maria helps him understand.





	Discussions of Magic

**Author's Note:**

> Quite some time ago, I came up with the idea of Street Protectors. Residents of Sesame Street who work with the innate magic of the street in order to keep it a safe space. Usually it doesn’t have anything to do with my stories, but I decided to chase down this particular plot bunny.

“Maria, might I ask you a question?”

Maria turned to see The Amazing Mumford standing patiently next to the work table.

“As long as you don’t make me quack like a duck again,” she answered, only half kidding.

Mumford shook his head, “I don’t even have my wand with me.” He promised, showing her that his hands were empty.

“All right. Go ahead then,” Maria set down the toaster she was adjusting the alignment on. Making sure that the bread would toast evenly could wait through a question. If Mumford didn’t even have his wand with him, then the question was probably important.

“It’s about magic.”

Maria nodded, “I should have expected that, but you’re the expert in magic, so what did you want to know from me?”

“Well,” Mumford began. “You are one of the Protectors are you not? One of the people who help keep the magic of the street running smoothly?”

“Oh Street Magic,” Maria said, finally understanding why Mumford had come to her. “If your question is about why it works then you’re probably better off talking to The Count or Mr. Hooper. They understand it a lot better than I do.”

“No, no. My question isn’t exactly about Street Magic at all,” Mumford explained carefully. “It’s more about different approaches to magic.”

“Okay?”

“As you know, I am a magician. I like to use magic to find solutions to problems and to experiment with new spells.”

“I’d noticed,” Maria said dryly, having been on the receiving end of a few experimental spells gone wrong over the years.

“Yes, and they do not always go according to plan, for which I am sorry,” Mumford said.

“I know you are,” Maria assured him. “And I forgive you, I just wish it would stop happening.”

“I do try,” Mumford said apologetically.

Maria nodded, “I know. It was very sweet of you to be so careful before Gabi was born. Now, what was your question?”

“Oh,” Mumford said as he remembered his purpose in coming to speak with Maria. “Protectors also work with magic, do they not?”

“We do,” Maria confirmed. “We can refine the Magic to strengthen the protections on the street and to keep the children safe.”

Mumford nodded, that was the main purpose of the Street Protectors.

Maria continued. “If there were ever an emergency, we would be able to extend the boundaries of protection temporarily to shelter as many people as possible. We’re also aware if something is wrong so that we can correct it before it can cause a problem.”

As Mumford continued to nod, Maria began to look puzzled. “But you know all this,” she said.  “I’m still not understanding what you want to know.”

“My question is this,” Mumford said. “While I use magic to accomplish things on a regular basis, I notice that the 16 Protectors do not. It is my understanding that the magic of the street is not focused solely on protection and could be used for other things. Why then do you not do so?”

Maria smiled. “We talk about it sometimes, and the simplest answer is that we don’t want to. See, we view magic more as a tool than a convenience. When it comes to looking after the street, that’s important. Keeping people safe is important. Keeping out people who are looking to cause harm is important. Those are the things that we use magic for. For everything else, we prefer a simpler approach.”

“I see,” Mumford said nodding.

“We _are_ trying to research extending the magic that already exists in order to help people in other ways,” Maria told him. “For example, you know that people who live on Sesame Street tend to heal faster when they’re sick or hurt than people who don’t. We may still need a doctor at first, but we recover more quickly.”

“Of course,” Mumford said. The faster healing helped him as well.

“Well, we’re looking into whether there’s any way that we can use that to help people elsewhere. We haven’t figured it out yet, but we are trying.”

“I have no doubt that you will one day succeed,” Mumford assured her. “You and the other Protectors are very smart.”

“Thank you,” Maria said.

“You are welcome,” Mumford said politely. “Would it be possible for you to elaborate further on what you meant a moment ago by ‘a simpler approach’?”

“Oh of course. For example, take this toaster,” she gestured to the one she had been fixing when he walked up. “It would probably be possible to use magic to fix it, but Luis and I both enjoy the challenge of fixing things by hand. There’s something about the satisfaction of seeing something that was broken work again because you put the effort into repairing it.”

“I understand that,” Mumford agreed. “I am always pleased when my efforts to perfect a spell succeed.”

Maria nodded, “Exactly. It’s the same with the others. Linda doesn’t want to summon knowledge with magic, she likes looking through books. She told me once that she doesn’t think the way a good book feels in her hand could ever be duplicated with magic.

“Mr. Hooper likes to cook on a stove far more than he likes the idea of making cooking easier with some sort of spell. Mr. Macintosh says that he likes choosing the best fruit the way his parents taught him instead of having a way to summon the best produce to him. And so on.”

Mumford listening with a rapidly increasing understanding.

“Rather than becoming good at what we do because we work with magic, we’re good at what we do through practice. Our skills are ours and we would still have them without magic. Unfortunately, it’s the same with our flaws,” she laughed.

“It would be nice if we could change our flaws magically, but we can’t. We can’t even blame them on magic. I had a temper before I moved to Sesame Street and I would still have one if I left. Our flaws are manageable and they’re just part of who we are.

“We don’t do things without magic because the magic isn’t available,” Maria concluded. “We do them that way because we enjoy doing them. Our skills aren’t given to us by magic, we studied and learned.”

“I understand now,” Mumford told Maria. “I was puzzled before as to why anyone wouldn’t want to use magic to make their life easier, but you have explained it very clearly and I can see your point of view.”

“I’m glad,” Maria said, smiling. “I understand your point of view too. You use your magic to try to make life easier, and that’s just as valid as using magic specifically for a single purpose. As long as magic isn’t used to bring harm, and any harm that’s inadvertently caused is acknowledged and quickly repaired, all magic is equally good. You do a wonderful job of mending your mistakes.”

“Thank you. You are a good friend, Maria.” Mumford said.

“So are you,” Maria said in return. “Now I need to get back to fixing this toaster.”

“Would you mind terribly if I stayed to watch you work?” Mumford asked. “I find that I am very curious about working without magic.”

“Of course,” Maria said. “I’ll even explain what I’m doing if you would be interested.”

Mumford smiled. “I would be very interested indeed.”

“All right.” She picked up the toaster, “So, I’m working on adjusting the heating elements so that they’re the same distance away from the toast…”

**Author's Note:**

> Sesame Street has been brought to you today by the letters M and Q and by the number 7.
> 
> Mumford has a very formal way of speaking.
> 
> The sixteen protectors are: Mr. Hooper, Mr. Macintosh, Willy, Gordon, Susan, Bob, Luis, David, Maria, Linda, Olivia, Gina, Bert, Ernie, The Count, and Oscar.
> 
> This isn’t to say that they’re against magic for fun, just that they aren’t interested in doing so themselves.
> 
> I think they try very hard to avoid being the Reed Richards is Useless trope, where particular knowledge or abilities are used only to solve fantastic problems but not “normal” problems that harm a lot of people. They want to help as many people as they can. Street Magic does have its limitations though.
> 
> Not using magic for mundane things isn’t something that they all agreed on for a particular reason, they just all happen to view this the same way.
> 
> I love Maria and Mumford’s friendship so much. Despite all the problems his spells have caused for her, they’re shown to be very fond of each other.


End file.
